[UA] Darkening Children's Tales

[Stuart Anderson]

holycrow at mindspring.com wrote:

> I loved "O Brother," but I never considered it a PARTICULARLY UA movie.  I'm curious why you think it is.  Though there is that common Cohen brothers vibe that EVERYONE is a fuckup, which is also something of a UA vibe.

The tough UA vibe to capture is the approach to the supernatural. My very studied and deliberate take on it is to keep it low-key, in terms of observable effect, but central to the internal lives of the characters. There
are several scenes that present this tension the way I try to evoke it in a game:
    The baptism down at the river. Clearly the film is stating something. There's the evocative nature of the photography, and the primal rush of the old-fashioned shape-note singing. Pete and particulary Delmar find it to
have been a deep, genuine change. But really, nothing obvious happened to convince Everett that anything was going on. "You boys are as dumb as a box of hammers."
    The Sireens. Again, the photography and music are distinct and subtly different, indicating a change. The effect, to Delmar, is clear and supernatural. "Them sireens loved him all up and turned him into a horny toad!"
Through the next few scenes, though he insists he's not convinced, Everett's expressions, and his comparative lack of anything to say, indicate to me that he is not nearly as certain that frog isn't Pete as he'd like to be.
"The heat must be gettin' to me!"
    The return of the Soggy Bottom Boys. Was there something supernatural about the way they won that crowd? On the surface, plot elements seem sufficient to explain the response, and at that point in the film, if it seems
a little contrived, we don't really care, because it's so perfect. But it's not hard to imagine a little extra movement in the hearts of the crowd, helping them forget their own racism and hatred of the governor.
    The flood. kneeling at the gallows, Everett's plea to God wasn't hollow. That was an extremely well-directed and well-acted scene, I doubt a single glance was out of place. Everett's pride was finally broken. I got the
Spirit a little myself. And though the flood was scheduled that morning, had it come ten minutes later, it would've been too late. Everett's expression as he sees the cow on the cotton house, in the midst of his explanation
denying anything supernatural, was all I needed to see that he was convinced.
    There are some others, but those are representative of what magick generally looks like in my game.
    The characters are deliberately archtypical, though not one-dimensional. Delmar's the Fool, Everett's the Masterless Man, and Pete's the Pilgrim. Pete's a little tough to nail down: I'm basing that largely on the
surprisingly touching campfire scene, as Pete reveals his dream for the money. Daniel Teague (otherwise known in these precincts as Big Dan Teague) is the Salesman. Both candidates and the suitor are competing for Demagogue
(He has the answers; he's bona fide!). Penny is unquestionably the Flying Woman (I'm counting to three . . .) And that lawman is The Executioner, if not Satan himself. None of this is surprising, since the story and the
characters are mythic to begin with.
    The scene where Big Dan tears a limb off a tree, beats the crap out of our heros with it, then squishes our other hero (in toad form) and casually throws him against the tree--that transcendental horror and furious
action all in two minutes.
    In addition to all that, we have famous guest stars, which isn't in the rules, but is something we talk about a lot. You can't get much more UA than Tommy (Robert) Johnson. Selling his soul to the devil, and facing that
burning cross. And how about the KKK as the clueless cabal? We saw numerous obsessions (I don't want Fop; I'm a Dapper Dan Man!) We saw a few bohicas and oacowas. We saw the story told on a fairly modest scale. And you have
your Coen Bros. fucked-up vibe. Man. I don't know how you could get *more* UA. But as I've said numerous times, my campaigns are probably a little weird. I think a bunch of you fellas could play several times with me
without realizing what game was going on. And that's one of the reasons I like it so much.
--Stu


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